9/29/2010

Newest Fox News piece: Why Gun Bans Still Don't Work

Yesterday's wild shooting spree at the University of Texas fortunately ended without anyone being hurt before the gunman shot himself. Naturally, the incident has yet again raised the question over gun bans, such as the ban currently in effect at the University of Texas.

Do they actually do more harm than good?

Gun bans as the solution to gun violence has popped up again, covering different areas. It would have been nice if such bans had stopped criminals from using guns. But, alas, the results are invariably the same, whether the ban is put in place for college campuses, cities, or entire nations: gun bans disarm the law-abiding, not criminals. Instead of making victims safer, they make criminals safer.

The study was originally done with data from 77 to 92, but we updated it twice already first to 96 and then 99. The last update was in 2000. So it was up to date when things were last updated. In any case, I don't have the money to update it again right now. It would take many thousands of dollars to update it.